The memory of that night, rising from the stone chamber at the lake's bottom, still clung to her body. Soaking wet robes. Three figures standing in silence on the shore. Dracona's back disappearing toward the castle. The tips of Ronalda's ears flushed red. Two days had passed since then. The tenth morning since the curse. Graves Hermione stood before the Headmaster's office. An old wooden door. The top of a spiral staircase. She took one deep breath before knocking. (I decided. I'm doing this.) She knocked. "Come in." When she opened the door, Dumbledore was sitting before a round desk, drinking tea. White beard. Blue eyes glowing softly behind half-moon spectacles. Fawkes glanced at Hermione and moved a single feather. "[serious]Headmaster. I need to use the Great Hall tonight. I need to gather all the students." Dumbledore set his cup back on the saucer. Slowly. Then he smiled. "[gentle]You've finally made your decision." Hermione stopped. "…Were you waiting for this from the beginning?" "[gentle]Who knows. But the preparations are certainly in place. You want to show everyone the footage from the stone chamber, yes? If we connect it to the magic in the Great Hall's ceiling, we can project it. It's simply a matter of combining the recorded spell projection method." Hermione studied his face for a moment. Then she spoke directly. "[serious]Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Dumbledore took another sip of tea, still smiling. Silence. Hermione sighed and bowed deeply. "Thank you." --- To prepare, she found Ronalda. When she called out to him spreading ancient documents in the corner of the common room, he jumped up eagerly. His messy hair bounced. "[excited]Leave it to me! I'm good with connection spells!" The two of them began connecting the Great Hall's ceiling magic to the projection device. Ronalda chanted the incantation. His face was concentrated. His wand in his right hand moved sharply. A flash—something appeared on the ceiling. A Chocolate Frog. A Chocolate Frog at least two meters long was projected across the entire ceiling, bouncing around with a boing-boing motion. "[surprised]Huh?" "[serious]…Ronalda." "S-sorry, I got the spell wrong! Um, this is…" "[serious]Take a deep breath. One more time." Ronalda put his hand to his forehead and chanted again. The Chocolate Frog disappeared. This time the connection to the footage source linked correctly. Hermione made fine adjustments with a calibration spell. Their hands ended up right next to each other on the work table. Ronalda casually lifted Hermione's belongings from the edge of the table and moved them to his side. Making space for her. Hermione saw it. She said nothing. But she naturally settled into that space. (Two days ago, we couldn't have done this.) The full moon was tonight. The preparations were complete. --- At dusk, all the students gathered in the Great Hall. The sky visible through the ceiling was darkening. The dining tables had been pushed to the sides, and students stood facing the platform. Nearly a thousand presences filled the stone hall, making the air heavy. Robes of different colors divided among four tables. Hufflepuff yellow, Ravenclaw blue, Gryffindor red, Slytherin green. One of Dracona's followers saw Hermione climb onto the platform and opened her mouth. "[sarcastic]Let's all listen to what the culprit has to say." Snickers rose from a section of the crowd. Hermione didn't stop. She stood on the platform. She could see everyone's faces in the Great Hall. Some gazes were cold. But she didn't care. She came here for this. "[serious]I'm going to show you the footage recorded in the stone chamber at the lake's bottom." She pointed her wand at the ceiling. She chanted the spell for magical recording playback. The stone chamber's footage spread across the entire ceiling. An image of rune characters glowing across the walls. The texture of ancient stone. And—the moment the text carved into the right wall was displayed, the Great Hall fell completely silent. "I, Evelina Fitchburg herself, burned the texts on curse-breaking." Nearly a thousand students read those words projected on the ceiling. No one spoke. Hermione kept the image displayed and spoke from the platform. "[serious]The scorch marks in the Restricted Section have existed for a hundred years. I did not burn them." Silence. You could see from a distance how the color drained from the faces of Dracona's followers. Then Professor Snape stepped forward, his black robes billowing. Eyes like slashes. A presence that dominated the entire space in a single second. "[cold]Then let us confirm." The professor held a single piece of parchment. "[cold]I will now read the names of those who spread baseless rumors these past days that Gryffindor student Graves committed arson on ancient texts." Names were called. One by one. With each name, that student's face went rigid. Five followers. All wearing Slytherin's green robes. "[cold]For the act of spreading false rumors, each house loses thirty points, and all are sentenced to one month of detention cleaning. Effective immediately from today." At the Hufflepuff table, someone dropped their gaze. The student next to them did the same. And the next. Several faces that had avoided Hermione these past days quietly looked down. Hermione saw that sight. Before anger came, a wave of exhaustion washed over her. (It's over. It really is over.) --- After Professor Snape stepped down, Hermione was still on the platform. The footage had cut off. Only the night sky was projected on the ceiling. The moon was out. A full, round moon. Hermione looked out at everyone. No microphone. Just her voice, speaking. "[sad]I was…really scared when my appearance changed." Her voice trembled at first. But she continued. "[gentle]Every time I looked in a mirror, it felt like I wasn't myself. Every day I wondered how much I could change and still be me." The Great Hall was silent. "[gentle]But there was someone who said they liked me in this form. Their feelings were real, regardless of appearance. …I want to be honest with my own feelings. I've been holding them back for so long." The moment those words ended. Moonlight streamed through the windows, pouring down into the Great Hall. Responding to the ceiling's magic, the light spread. Hermione's body began to glow with a pale platinum light. It rippled outward. The student next to her. The one beyond. One after another. Someone shouted "Whoa!" A Gryffindor student who glowed momentarily returned to their pre-curse form, then changed back. Glowed again. Changed back again. "Wait, what!?" "It almost returned to normal!? But it changed again!" "How many times is this going to repeat!?" The Great Hall erupted into chaos. Hermione glowed too. But—she didn't fully return. Her chestnut hair swayed. Her body continued to glow faintly, not quite returning to her original form. (It loosens when emotions are acknowledged…it was written in the stone chamber. It's true. But it's not complete yet—there's still something I haven't fully acknowledged.) She knew what that was. Her face grew warm. That's when it happened. A shout came from around the Gryffindor table. "[excited]I love you!!" The Great Hall froze instantly. Ronalda was standing. His reddish-brown messy hair swayed. His large green eyes looked only at Hermione on the platform. "[excited]Your appearance doesn't matter! I've always loved you!!" He'd stood up with too much force. His knee pushed against the table's edge. A juice cup on the table toppled, and like dominoes, they all fell at once. Red juice flowed across the table and splashed directly onto one of the followers sitting nearby. "Kyaaaaa!!" Laughter spread through the Great Hall. Explosive laughter. Someone from the Hufflepuff table, someone from Ravenclaw, shouted "Ronalda!!" Ronalda's face was bright red up to his ears. Hermione froze on the platform. Her ears were hot. Her cheeks were hot. Her neck was hot. She could see Ronalda's face. Red and messy in front of a thousand people, but his eyes were looking straight at her. The same eyes he'd had in the stone chamber at the lake's bottom when he said "I'm coming with you." (Don't run. This time, I won't run.) Hermione took a step forward. She looked back at Ronalda. That was all. Words still wouldn't come. But the air in the Great Hall changed. Somewhere a voice shouted "Go for it!!" Laughter and cheers mixed, filling the Great Hall with warm sound. Lorkwood Jinia watched from the edge of the Ravenclaw table. Deep purple short bob. Gold and blue heterochromatic eyes, quietly fixed on Hermione on the platform. When Jinia's eyes met Hermione's, she gave a clear, meaningful look. It's not over yet. That's what her eyes said. Meanwhile, in the farthest seat of the Great Hall, Malfoy Dracona stood with her arms crossed. Silver long hair. Cold silver eyes. Jade ear cuffs caught the light from the platform and glowed quietly. Her expression was unreadable. She simply watched the entire scene unfold with those eyes. In the cheers, Dracona's lips moved slightly. She said something, but no one heard it. It's not over yet. Her expression said exactly that. --- The morning after the full moon night, thin morning light streamed through the common room window. Hermione had the stone chamber's footage spread across her lap. To check the details one more time. The footage she'd watched countless times last night. The wall of rune characters. Evelina's inscription. The Graves family crest— Something was visible at the edge of the footage. The bottom of the wall. Half-buried in sand, a section that couldn't be fully read on site. Barely visible in the corner of the footage. Hermione pointed her wand. "Magnify." A section of the footage enlarged. The pixels grew coarser. But the text was readable. "[surprised]…No way." "What's wrong?" Ronalda, who'd been drinking Butterbeer—in the morning—from beside her, leaned in to look. Hermione pointed at the text. "[serious]The first trial is acceptance of emotion. The second trial is…acknowledgment of memory." Ronalda furrowed his brow. "[serious]Acknowledgment of memory? What does that mean?" "I don't know. The details aren't clear yet." The curse still wasn't completely broken. Even after glowing last night, her body was still slightly unstable. If the first trial was "acceptance of emotion," then the second was—acknowledging something about memory. What memory of hers. What about the Graves family, connected to Evelina. "[serious]What should we do next?" Ronalda asked casually. While taking a sip of Butterbeer. Like he was confirming something obvious. Hermione looked at his face. (I'm not alone. I haven't been alone for a long time.) "[serious]I'll write a letter to my parents. They must know something about how the Graves family connects to Evelina." Ronalda nodded. He started to say he'd help write it, then looked away shyly. The tips of his ears were slightly pink. Hermione took out parchment. Outside the window, the morning Hogwarts Lake glowed quietly. The black lake where the two of them had dived that night. "Acknowledgment of memory"—she still didn't understand what those words meant. But the clue was definitely there. She began moving her quill across the parchment, thinking. (Whatever the next trial is. I'm done trying to do everything alone.) The morning light slowly brightened the common room floor.